Doodled Hearts
by Flower Crowned Gummy Bear
Summary: I might as well introduce myself, I am Dirk Strider; younger brother of the famous Dave Strider. Don't believe me? Tough shit. I like to consider myself as a cool guy, but my friends prefer to call me nerd or fag; all with care I guess. In the end I am just a normal teenager, but with the struggles of being gay.


Some say that love is like an adventure, like it's a whole new experience that you will never get again. First kisses, first boyfriends, first time in bed; you can't redo it. They all say that you fall in love only once, and that if you let go of that person you'll never be happy again. I say bull shit.

There is no such thing as love, and there are no soul mates. If anything, I might like a guy and think that he's hella rad, but that is rare, and if I do think the said person is cool then I might just fuck it up. To conclude, I'm not romantic. I know the rumours, people think because I have had more than enough boyfriends (and the fact that I'm also a Strider) I know how to woo any guy I want, but honestly I don't know how to. The only teacher I have is anime, and if I did anything from Junjou Romantica I think I would be slapped.

Anyway, I might as well introduce myself, I am Dirk Strider; younger brother of the famous Dave Strider. Don't believe me? Tough shit. I like to consider myself as a cool guy, but my friends prefer to call me nerd or fag; all with care I guess. In the end I am just a normal teenager, but with the struggles of being gay.

Chapter One

There was always a spot on the wall that Dirk would stare at. It was occupied by a tattered poster explaining the colour wheel, but because of some ignorant eighth grader drew dicks on it they had to remove it. Now there was a patch of clean wall there, awaiting a new art related poster. The class was writing an art theory test, and Dirk was done within the first ten minutes. Now and then his chum, Roxy, would look at him hoping to get an answer out of him. Every time Dirk would say no.

"I may be an asshole, but I won't cheat," Dirk would say "plus what if my answers are wrong?"

"Your answers are never wrong." Roxy would reply.

After reading over his answers for the seventh time he stood up and took his answer paper. He walked over to the teacher and delivered the test,

"Done already?" the ma'am looked up at Dirk. He nodded.

"Too easy for you?" she smiled.

"A bit yeah, I just don't want to complain because I want to keep it easy for the rest of the class." Dirk shoved his hands in his pockets. The teacher snickered and took the paper, thanking him. Dirk walked over back to his desk and sat down; trying to ignore the jealous glares from his class mates. The class was quiet, which was odd. This group was populated by kids ranging from total otakus to a guy who gets banged every weekend. People like Cronus Ampora took this art class, why would he? He wasn't even that good at art; he probably took it to get closer to Meenah Peixes, another person you shouldn't mess around with.

The class ended, and Roxy had just finished her test. She packed away her belongings and walked over to Dirk,

"So how was the test, Dirky?" Roxy spoke with a slur as if she was always drunk, which she was.

"Easy." He shrugged. Roxy blew a large pink bubble from her lips, and let it pop before speaking.

"That makes one of us. Cronus kept looking at my work and I told him I didn't know shit but he didn't believe me. I swear he has a thing for me."

"You think everyone has a thing for you." Dirk replied, holding his binder with one arm and pressing it to his hip.

"It's true, that's why. I even think you have a thing for me." She looked up her friend and smiled. Dirk looked down at her and smirked,  
"Knock knock, Rolal, in case you've forgotten I'm gay."

"I will get the heterosexual out of you." Dirk kept his glare on Roxy and watched her bleach blonde hair bounce as she walked; she had recently got it cut so it was extra springy.

Roxy was a girl of many colours, and Dirk had seen them all. He had seen her depressed, high, in love. It was hard having a friend like her, and even with Jane's help she was a handful. Now Jane Crocker was the other damsel in the trio, she was as sweet as cookie dough and honestly she was the most innocent gal you would ever meet. She was still new to the group, as she only joined the school about five months ago. Her story was a complicated one, but let's just say her father was extremely busy, therefore a lot of moving and one day Jane threw a tantrum. She shouted, saying that she didn't want to leave friends over and over again, and she was tired of struggling to fit in and so the father resorted to boarding school. She met Roxy because they were now roommates, and through Roxy she met Dirk. Finally Dirk could have a break from babysitting Roxy every once in a while.

"Where's Jane?" Roxy said as they reached the English Quad, which was always empty. It was the hang out place for our main characters, and they loved it because barely anyone went there. It was nice, quiet and clean, because of the library nearby.

Dirk shook his head, "I thought you knew where she was."

"Nope, but she said she had a student council meeting. She might still be attending it."

"Jesus. This meeting has been going on for fifteen minutes already." Dirk brushed back his hair as he spoke. Roxy nibbled on her donut,

"I know right! Maybe they're discussing homecoming stuff." She shrugged, speaking with a full mouth. Dirk scratched his neck, and Roxy rested her head on his shoulder.

He looked over to the doors of the library, Kankri Vantas stood by it. He was the librarian's assistant, along with the popular Aranea Serket. Dirk often felt sorry for Vantas, all he craved was the library, it was a place of order and discipline, and it was the perfect habitat for him. Aranea definitely had a thing for Kankri. Why else would she be following his every step?

"Kankri has a nice ass." Dirk whispered. Roxy rolled her eyes.

"Stop being so gay." Roxy demanded.

"Sorry. I don't stop you from flirting with me twenty four seven." He looked down at her.

"Shut up." She pouted.

"I am not going to shut up." He elbowed her in the ribs. They often had quarrels like this, which didn't mean anything. Offence wasn't taken and honestly it was just their way to show care for each other.

Dirk looked at the sky, feeling his heart beat ever so slowly. It was a dark day, a day where you don't really want to get dressed into uniform. The uniform was terrible, the fabric felt like canvas and the blazer was too heavy. Roxy had her navy blue blazer draped over her. There were a lot of silences between Roxy and Dirk, which was alright. It gave Dirk time to think.

"When was the last time you kissed someone, Dirk?" Roxy asked him the previous Sunday. He hadn't replied, only shrugged. Now, he answered, "Six months ago."

"What?"

"The last time I kissed someone was six months ago."

"Is that why you're so miserable?" She teased.

"No. I'm miserable because that's just who I am." He smirked weakly, as if it was forced.

"Oh… look at that. Janey brought a friend." Roxy hummed, and looked at the arch which served as the entrance to the quad. Under it was Jane, her blazer slightly too big for her, and her knee socks slipping down her leg. The normal. The only difference was the person next to her. He was much taller than she was – then again everyone was – and he had dark hair, which greatly commented his green eyes.

Jane approached the blondies with her usual cute smile.

"Hey fellas. Sorry I took forever, committee meeting and such." She spoke, her accent faintly southern.

"It's alright Janey. Who's the cutie behind you?" Roxy leaned to the side to get a better look at the new student. Jane stepped away and revealed the handsome chap again.

"Roxy, Dirk, this is Jake English. He's one of the five exchange students and he was left by himself the poor fella. So I thought he might enjoy our little posse." Jane smiled. Jake smiled, showing off his two front teeth that were just slightly bigger than the rest. Roxy took his hand and shook it, and then Dirk did the same.

"Let's hear you speak. Talk English to us, Mr. English." Roxy demanded. Jake chuckled and shrugged. "Well, it is bloody freezing out here, wouldn't you agree?" Jake spoke. Dirk looked at the Englishman from behind his shades; his voice was the perfect tone. Not too deep but not too high pitched. His accent was not cockney, but more posh. The way he pronounced his words were so precise. Dirk also noticed that when Jake spoke his eyebrows would lift slightly.

Roxy snickered, "Janey, how do you always find the cute guys? It's your accent isn't it? I need a new accent."

Jane chuckled in return, "Sorry about Roxy. You'll get used to her craziness," Jake nodded and brushed back his hair, "also Dirk, are you okay? You seem a bit more quiet than usual."

Dirk thanked his brother for the shades around now, because he couldn't keep his eyes off the ostentatious Brit.

"Yeah I'm fine. I just had a rough night, this stupid visual diary is eating up all my time and it's not cool. Also that's a hella badass accent you got there Jake, you sure you're not the real James Bond or something?" Dirk joked.

"I wish, but no, sadly not." Jake replied.  
"What is your next class, Jakey?" Roxy asked, obviously praying it would be one of her classes.

Jake dug through his blazer pocket and took out a folded document, his green eyes scanned the paper.

"I go to geography after break."

"Me too." Dirk replied with a small smirk.

"Oh swell." Jake smiled, "I will need a guide dog to help me around the school. This place is huge."

The bell rang, and Dirk got to his feet. Jane helped Roxy up and together they went to French. Dirk led the way to Geography, Jake following. The halls were busy, filled with people of many differences. There weren't just exchange students from Britain, but also Japan and other parts of Europe. School was never boring, unless you were from America. It was like any other school, except the school fees were slightly more expensive and there was a shitty uniform.

"So English, what's your story?" Dirk spoke, keeping his eyes ahead.

"Oh, it's nothing too interesting. I'm just a chap who had to come here because my grandmother died. No one else could take care of me I was sent here." Jake did that thing with his eyebrows again.

"Oh. So you lived alone most of your life?"

"Indeed." Jake nodded.

"Hey, me too." Dirk smirked and looked at Jake from the corner of his eyes. "We could sympathise about each other's shitty past in Geo."

Jake chuckled and nodded. Dirk noticed another thing about Jake, his smile was more of a smirk than anything else. They entered the class, and all the eyes turned to look at English. Almost everyone Dirk was familiar with was there, including the damnable Rufioh Nitram. He was the guy every girl wanted to be with; he had good taste in music, anime and clothes. Some girls say that he was perfection on two legs. Dirk disagreed, to him Rufioh was a smug fuck who did nothing but cheat on his poor boyfriend with girls. No one knows Rufioh has a boyfriend besides him, because (sadly) Rufioh is his roommate, and one day he walked in on Nitram and his boyfriend Horuss Zahhak; the runt of the Zahhak family.

Dirk glared at Rufioh, already getting possessive over his new friend. Dirk thought, this was going to be a fun first day for English.

"I think we should go out tonight to give Jake the proper welcome." Roxy spoke with a lollipop stick protruding from her lips.

"I need to finish my visual diary." Dirk sighed, the two of them walked to the boy dorms.

"Dirk, you need to get out a bit. You've been busying yourself with this stupid art project for the past week and its irritating. You're blocking yourself from Jane and me, which his very rude."

Dirk walked through the doors of building, Roxy following behind. The small lobby always smelled like weed, it always made Dirk grimace and rush to the stairs.

"I want to get it done. Have you even touched your project yet?"

"No. I don't use ten million mediums like you, so I'll be finished by like Monday. Anyway, if you're not going to come then Jake is going to be very upset."

"Jake?" Dirk let out a huff, "Why the Hell would he be upset with me? We met today, I don't think he's gives a shit. You go have fun."

Roxy pouted, "Fine, but you're missing out on a great opportunity here." She spoke as she turned around and exited the building. Dirk snorted and walked up the stairs to his room.

Friday evenings were always irritating for Dirk. People always nagged him, wanting him to go out with them. Often it would be Roxy and Jane, but now and then an invitation would come from Rufioh. Dirk only went out with Rufioh once, and that was the night he got drunk for the first time in grade ten. It was awful, to say the least.

The young man walked into his room, obviously empty, and dumped his belongings on his bed. He stripped off his blazer and opened his visual diary once he took a seat. The file contained drawings, paintings, even scrapbook themed pages; he took this project quite seriously. Dirk turned to his doodle page and continued his doodles. This specific page was titled 'Doodle Page', and it already contained a couple of chibi and neko characters. He began another little chibi drawing, giving him dark hair, rectangle shaped glasses and a goofy looking smirk. Once he finished it he analysed it and…. Oh shit. Did he just draw Jake English?

Dirk dropped his pencil and stopped, staring at the adorable little chibi.

Those dark locks, that ridiculous grin, that unbelievably sexy accent, all these facts run through his mind over and over. Yep, you guessed it; Dirk Strider thinks someone is hella wicked. He snatched his cell phone from the bed and immediately texted Roxy: 'Yo, I'll be by the gates in ten minutes.'

Chapter Two

Why did Dirk agree to this? Why the hell did he think going out on a Friday night would be a good idea? Any other guy would think this idea would be chilled, that meeting friends at a restaurant on a Friday night is awesome. Dirk didn't mind that, he just didn't want to see people; past boyfriends for example. He chewed on his bottom lip as he waited for Jane and Roxy, who were taking their sweet ass time. He pulled out his phone and just stared at the screen, thinking it would pass the time.

"Where the hell are you, Rox?" he groaned to himself and leaned against the metal bars.

Since there was nothing else to do Dirk took in his surroundings. He watched students exit the gates, the girls painted with makeup, the guys smelling like cheap cologne. He let out another heavy sigh and turned to see a familiar face approach him.

"Oh hello there, Dirk. I didn't know you were coming tonight." Jake's English accent echoed through Dirk's mind.  
"Roxy managed to change my mind, plus, someone has to take care of them and I didn't want to burden you with two drunken girls on your first night with us. That is if they get drunk." He shoved his phone in his pocket. Making childish assumptions as always.

"Oh, well thank you for that." He smiled. Dirk returned the smile, but added a hint of badass to the grin. Jake cleared his throat and looked back at the school building. Dirk looked down at the Englishman and sighed softly and had just realised why he didn't want to come.

"Sorry fellas, Roxy wanted to be extra fancy for tonight." Jane hummed once Roxy and her reunited with the boys. It wasn't just Roxy who painted herself into the perfect picture, Jane also added a bit more eye shadow than usual (then again she never wore eye shadow) and wore eyeliner which greatly complimented her blue eyes.

"You better be. What kind of friends are you if you're going to let English and I wait for a long time? And you call me rude, Rox." Dirk sneered and stretched. He imagined Roxy roll her eyes as they began to walk down the street toward The Hog Wagon, one of best restaurants in town. The name may be a bit… odd, but their burgers were wicked.

It wasn't a long walk, and when they reached their destination Dirk's heart dropped to his stomach. Through the glass doors he noticed that Mohawk with the red dip dye. Rufioh Nitram always had his ways with ruining Dirk's day, even if he didn't say anything. Jake stepped forward and opened the door, letting the ladies in first and then Dirk. Roxy walked towards an empty booth and took a seat. Jane tried to sit next to her best friend but Roxy ordered her to sit across from her. With a sigh she did so. Dirk sat next to Jane and Jake took a seat next to Roxy.

The restaurant was full of activity, as expected; it was filled with mainly students in twelfth grade.

Laughter and cackles were so loud that if the place went silent your ears would buzz. This was basically all the excitement obtainable in a place like this. Robin Brook was nowhere on the map, it was more of a little town made for the students. The area was made up of a few restaurants, a petite mall and a park. There was nothing else to it.

"So Jake, met anyone you fancy yet?" Roxy asked as she nudged Jake with her elbow.

"Oh no, but I have met some rather cute little ladies." Jake replied. Cute girls… Dirk tried his best to ignore that.

"Like who?" Roxy asked again.

"Well I did meet this wonderful lady named Aranea today in Literacy class. She was rather lovely; then again you two ladies are as well." He tittered. Roxy smiled and so did Jane, even if she wasn't paying all of her attention on Jake. She was more worried about Dirk. She looked at him and he looked back. These two were most likely telepathic and so they didn't need to talk verbally. With a certain look one could just immediately know what the other meant. In this case, Dirk 'said' that he was fine, it was just the noise level and the people around him that bothered him.

"Oh god, Jakey you are just so fucking cute I can't even deal. Okay, next question, how many partners have you had?"

Jake shrugged and hesitated to answer, "None." The trio all looked at the newbie with surprise, Dirk making it subtle of course.

"What?! How can a handsome gentleman like you be single, or even a virgin for that matter?" Roxy was practically curling over Jake.

"Roxy, you're still a virgin." Jane corrected.

"I know, but I'm not a sexy Englishman. If I was a sexy Englishman I would create a kissing booth or something! Let everyone have a taste of my sexiness."

Dirk rolled his eyes and looked at Jake, who just seemed to chuckle at the whole thing. Roxy did have a point though, how could Jake still be a virgin? He is one of the most handsome people Dirk has met, and that says something. He probably could have lost it just with all the looks he got today; it was like some of the students just mentally fucked him.

"Jake it's okay; at least you're not trying to throw it away." Jane placed her hand on the chap's hand and gave it a light squeeze.

"So how did you handle all your crushes and shit? That must have been torture." Roxy added. Dirk was awfully quiet, and he knew it.

"Well, because I lived alone for most of my life. Literally. My grandmother was also my teacher, and when she died I taught myself until someone found me, put me on a plane and sent me here. Throughout that whole time period I had contact with no people." Dirk raised an eyebrow.

"So you had no one?" he asked finally. Jake shook his head.

"I had a dog for a while, but she got sick and she died when I was thirteen." He answered. Roxy pouted and gave him a hug from the side.

After much chit chat the four finally ordered their meals, all being the classic burger. The whole evening they talked, mainly about Jake's past. The whole while Roxy asked questions, almost forcing the answer out of Jake at times. Jane and Dirk just listened and sometimes they added to the conversation. On their way back Roxy tugged Jake forward and they continued their conversation. Jane stayed behind with Dirk.

"Roxy is being weird again." Jane sighed.

"I know." Dirk replied, "It's irksome."

"It is, but it's the happiest I have seen her in a while. I guess that's what counts."

"I don't know. She gets to that stage where she gets too happy and then you can't pull her out of it. At this point she's just frightening English away."

"You have a point." Jane nodded, "and I know you don't want Jake to run away, huh?"

"He's going to be with us for a while, right? He's going to be our friend, and even though I don't show it I do care about him. He's like a puppy here. I don't want him to get tied up with the wrong people." He referred to Aranea and _that _crowd. Jane giggled,

"You are such a softie sometimes."

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

"You might as well be King of the Marshmallows." Dirk smirked and looked down at Jane, and waited for the perfect moment before knocking her with his hips. She giggled again and returned the favour.

Dirk walked the last stretch to his room alone. The halls were still light, it's like it was a sign telling Dirk that it was too early to come home. He sighed and reached his room, thoughts of the night dancing on his mind. It was no doubt that Jake was straight, he never spoke once about meeting a handsome 'chap' - as he would say. Dirk just had to accept the fact that his future with Jake would be a normal friendship and not some romantic fantasy. Gripping tightly onto his keys he tried to scratch Jake out of his mind, but how? His one chance of being happy was taken within a sentence. He opened the door and walked to his desk, opening his laptop and plugging in his head phones. In a moment the world around him was blocked out, forgotten.

Time to make some depressing remixes.


End file.
